The Missing and the Missed
by LifesVictory
Summary: Something told her to just keep looking...
1. Author's Note

A/N—Hey there, everybody!!! This is my first fanfic EVER so bear with me...I'm still getting used to this whole process of publication. It's great, though, isn't it? Right, so the first chapter is a TAD abrupt because I cannot figure out for the life of me how to edit it, but as soon as I do, I'll fix it. Thanks for your reviews so far! I hope you like the updated chapter. I wrote it listening to Seal's "Love Divine." Also... there's something I have to do...

Let's take a moment to bid farewell 

_To our dear Speed_

_And best of luck_

_To Rory Cochrane_

_In his Career._

_Okay, then! Thanks a lot, guys. Talk to you soon. Advice welcome._


	2. Default Chapter

_She opened the door to her suburban condominium and saw him standing there, dressed in a dark suit with hazy blue shirt, sunglasses hiding his eyes. He leaned one hand on the door frame, and didn't look up when she swung open the door. The early morning cast long shadows on his chiseled face._

"_Horatio? What are you doing here?" Calleigh checked her watch. "It's five in the morning...is everything all right?" He finally looked up at her, and a weak smile pulled at the corners of his mouth._

"_Everything's fine," he whispered. There was a tense pause in which Calleigh tried to speak several words, but nothing escaped her lips. He took a deep breath that made his shoulders heave, directing his eyes to the ground._

"_Can I...would you like to come in?" Horatio glanced into her concerned face. His eyes were drawn to her newly dyed hair. The dark, brunette tendrils curled around her face like a wreath. _

"_I can't stay," Horatio muttered as if in a daze. She awkwardly fingered a strand of hair and waited for him to explain his presence. "I've got to...go away." Calleigh's fingers halted abruptly._

"_Away?" She repeated. The Lieutenant nodded and inhaled again. "O--okay, I think I'll be able to cover for you for a few days, but I've got to attend my mother's wedding on Thursday--" Horatio shook his head with a somber smile._

"_I don't think I'll be back, Calleigh," he interrupted. Her face was twisting in confusion as she tried to understand. "There's something I have to attend to..." Something in his voice caught and he roughly cleared his voice and continued as Calleigh tried to interject. "I need you to do some things for me. Make sure that Ray, Jr. is taken care of, please...and Susie...give her the key to my bank account...will you do that for me? Will you..." He broke off and stared, lost, into the brightening horizon._

"_Horatio, you're starting to scare me," Calleigh told him seriously. Horatio straightened and took her quivering hand, pressing something cold and hard into her warm palm. She felt the engraved surface of his badge with her fingers and her blue eyes widened. "What's going on? Please tell me what's going on!" She searched his face desperately for some sort of clue, but it was to clouded to read, as usual. _

"_Thank you, Calleigh," he managed to whisper, his voice breaking down so that he had to turn and walk sharply away without another word. She stood there blankly, gazing at the place where her boss once stood, and suddenly grabbed a coat, and ran after him, the early morning chill cutting through her light clothing. She sped after his retreating figure, calling out to him, but he would not stop. _

_He was unlocking his Hummer, and without a glance behind him, he roared the engine to life and raucously drove the vehicle out of the lot and into the distance. She noticed something had fallen out of his pocket when he entered the SUV, but could not see it clearly for the tears spilling from her eyes. She bent, tripping over her long pant legs and took a small agenda book into her hands, but could not get up again. Calleigh sat, legs sprawled before her, crying piteously into the night, holding his badge close to her as desperation saturated her heart._

A ringing woke the sleeping brunette from her daydream and she reached for the phone of her large office, courtesy of promotion. She held it to her ear.

"This is Duquesne," she mumbled sleepily. A familiar voice caused a smile to break across her lips.

"Dozing on the job again?"

"Speed," she laughed. "Where are you?"

"Driving to see you, but apparently, you're indisposed." Calleigh giggled as her fiancé's cell phone was interrupted by static. "Are you there?"

"Yeah," she called back. "You do realize there are _newer_ versions than the 1996 model of the cellular phone, don't you?" His voice was tinged with amusement as he mumbled something indiscernible into the phone. "I can't hear you too well, Speed."

"And it was too dirty to repeat," he teased, "Your loss." Calleigh sighed in content as she signed some paperwork stacked on her desk. "That's a beautiful blouse you're wearing, Cal. Where did you get such a spectacular color this side of Miami?" She looked up, grinning, trying to find him. "And those lovely pearl earrings. Fresh plucked from the oyster, I'm guessing?"

"Where are you?" she chortled, setting down her pencil and walking to her office window. Poorly hidden behind a clump of trees, she saw Tim's Volkswagen parked in the lot below her. "Sneaky bastard."

"I'm hoping you won't talk to me like that as your husband, Mrs. Speedle," he mocked. Calleigh's smile faltered just a moment. Her new name hadn't occurred to her yet, and it was foreign to her ears.

"I've still got time to back out, mister," she recovered, "Watch yourself...I may be having an affair with a Columbian surfer with a six-pack and monster biceps." Speed reversed his car back a couple of feet and stuck his head out the driver side window. "I spy a bored fiance." Suddenly, she heard his voice bellowing from 100 or so feet below her.

"I LOVE YOU, CALLEIGH DUQUESNE!" A deep blush rose to her cheeks as her closest friend, Alexx, passed by her office with a knowing smile. Calleigh grinned and turned away, waving at her husband-to-be through the window. His voice rang clear on the phone once more. "Spontaneous enough for you?" She recalled daydreaming about spontaneity to him a few days earlier.

"You're adorable," she cooed. "Now, shut up and let me finish this work before I go insane so I can go home." With a few words of good-bye, she was disconnected and once again flipping through documents on her desktop. The heading of a newspaper clipping attached to one letter caught her eye and she slid it from the pile, paling to read its contents. It was her want-ad for a private eye she had put out almost two years ago. It was yellow and worn and ripped at the edges, but had been preserved carefully. Trembling fingers flipped the clipping over and read the contents of the letter. A polite message and phone number left her feeling numb and shaken. Alexx's voice made her jump.

"Everything alright, sweetheart?" She asked, tying her dark hair behind her face in a loose bun. Calleigh managed to nod emptily and was finally alone again. Her sweaty hand picked up the phone once more, and without thinking, she dialed the written number. It was probably a joke, a trick played by some teenagers with no social lives, someone targeting perfectly innocent strangers, a twisted madman who–

"Marc Edwards, PI, speaking." Calleigh gaped like a fish for air and the detective sighed impatiently. "Hello?" She managed to find her voice.

"Yes, sorry," Calleigh stuttered, kicking the office door shut. "I'm calling about a response you sent me to a want-ad I advertised?" Edwards paused for a moment to think, then cleared his rough voice.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, "I think I could be of use." Calleigh unconsciously lowered her hand to the bottom drawer of her desk where she kept a dusty silver badge in black leather wallet. "Who exactly is it you're looking for, and I'll find 'em."

"I–uh–am looking for ...a—a man by the name of...Lt. Horatio Caine..." She shuddered as the name rested on her lips, strange from not being spoken for so long. There was a pause on the line before the detective assented.

"My fee's two-hundred for a background check, one hundred for location, and fifty for personal charges," he droned on, but Calleigh wasn't really listening.

"It's done," she cut in. She didn't even think of asking for qualifications and licenses. Adrenaline and fear was overpowering her. "I'll send it to you when you give me a location via your return address."

"Agreed," the detective said. She could hear a smile stretching across his face. "Action first, money later." Finally, he hung up, and she held the phone to her ear until the dial-tone crescendoed into a loud blaring announcement by the operator. Calleigh dropped the phone onto its ledge and leaned back, sweaty and nervous, into her chair. Her fears and anxieties for her former boss, role model, and friend resurfaced unpleasantly in her mind. She glanced down at her hand where his badge rested, shining coldly back into her blue eyes. She needed to get out.

Without a second thought, she threw together her suitcase and coat, switching off her light and locking the door, aware that she was leaving three hours early. Alexx watched her curiously but said nothing as she stormed out of the building, feeling nauseous. Her mind told her to go home, be comforted by her fiancé, but instead she drove to the local bar and ordered a glass of wine. The young bartender grinned at her, and, mirthlessly, she paid him in full without a word or tip. As the mellow taste of Merlot eased her nerves, Calleigh watched as a group of men played pool jovially with several mugs of beer and whiskey within reaching distance. The alcohol and atmosphere did not sooth her completely, however, and she soon left, feeling the eyes of the bartender follow her as she exited the smoky room. Night was falling fast, and she drove around in a wide, looping circle for a half an hour before accepting the confines of the condo she shared with Speed.

"Hey there," he murmured after she pulled in the drive and stepped out of the BMW. Speed held back her still dark hair and kissed her neck, but she unintentionally shied away from him. His face was surprised and hurt. "What's the matter?" She couldn't let this control her again.

"Nothing...hard day..." Calleigh recovered smoothly, rubbing her temples convincingly as if she were plagued by a headache. Speed massaged her neck. He understood, he told her, and she managed a weak laugh. She climbed the spiral staircase to her bedroom, still separate from the man below her, and collapsed onto the bed. Sleep and terrible dreams soon over took her.

The days passed sluggishly, and Alexx commented daily on Calleigh's worsening appearance. She didn't doubt it. The lack of sleep and anxiety that had weighed on her mind since discovering the letter on her desk hadn't given her a moment's peace since. When she was at worked, she feared the detective would call at home. When she was at home, she was cursing herself for not being available at work. Even Speed had noticed the change in her, and he avoided asking her about it for fear of a "heated discussion."

"I'm off to work," Speed called to her one morning, fully dressed and jingling his car keys in his hands. He watched her still form, clothed in a large nightshirt and shorts, staring out of the window. "Want a ride?" Calleigh inhaled deeply and shook her head, forcing a smile.

"No thanks, darlin'," she chimed. She hoped he wouldn't hear the cracking in her voice that threatened to betray her. "I'm not feeling to well... I think I'll take the day off." Speed moved towards her, concerned.

"You want me to stay with you?"

"No," she answered, standing up and walking over to him, linking her arms around his neck. Calleigh kissed his cheeks, covered in a dark stubble, and saw him out of the condo, returning his shouted "I love you." Once he was gone, she retreated back inside, taking her hot tea onto the balcony and sitting in her wicker rocking chair. The sun was rising brilliantly in the east, casting rays of crimson and gold onto the clouds. A rare moment of peace settled in her mind and sleep began to quiet her edgy state of being when the phone rang. She jumped up, spilling the herbal tea onto her front.

"Shit!" She hissed before running inside. Calleigh grabbed the portable phone and ran to the balcony before the second ring had even trilled. "Hello?"

"Ms. Duquesne?" The familiar rough voice of a smoker intoned. She felt a sickening creep into her stomach. "This is Detective Edwards. We spoke a couple weeks ago..."

"I remember," she cut in. "Have you found something?" Calleigh heard him take a long draw on a cigar and wheeze before answering.

"Well, as much as we could, ma'am," he muttered, concentrating on something on the other end of the line. "I've got an address here. A way away, I must say. You want it over the phone?"

"Yes." Calleigh kicked the screen door out of its track as she bounded indoors to grab a ben and paper. "Yes, yes, I'm here. Go ahead." She scribbled on the paper to make sure it worked.

"Ah...we must reaffirm the fact that we're not responsible for—"

"Just tell me the address!" Calleigh sucked in a deep breath and calmed herself down, waiting for the man to continue.

"178 Waterloo Drive," he began suspiciously, "Charleston, West Virginia..." Calleigh scrawled the address in short, agitated handwriting and thanked the man in full.

"Hey, it's your money, lady," she could


	3. A Chance

Calleigh awoke the next morning to the unmistakable sound of bells. She frowned and turned on her side, taking in the rich sent of percolating coffee wafting around her. Suddenly, she sat upright, beginning to reach for her gun. Someone was in her—

"Good morning," a gravelly male voice called. Calleigh dropped her hand and grinned at the bedraggled man walking towards her with a cup of coffee.

"How'd you get in?" He raised his eyebrows in suspicion. "Not that I object, but..."

"Spare key...?"

"Oh, right."

"Coffee?" Calleigh looked up and smiled gratefully.

"You're lovely," she cooed, "absolutely wonderful." He climbed onto the bed and crawled onto her pillow, fully dressed in his ironed work clothes. Calleigh sipped at the mug, tasting the liquid and holding back a wince. Too much sugar, and way too much cream.

"Good?"

"Delicious."

"Good," Speed continued, "now, get yourself ready for work and I'll take you in the Jag." She hated that Jag.

"Ahh, Speed, I think—I think I'll stay home today," she said, slowly placing the coffee on the nightstand beside her. Tim rolled over and draped an arm over her stomach.

"Are you okay?" Calleigh nodded and rubbed his hand absently. "Cal?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured him. "There's just something I have to take care of." Tim nodded, and Calleigh blessed him for his indifference. After a while, he sat up, kissed her good-bye roughly on the forehead, and informed her that a ham and cheese omelet was waiting for her in the oven.

Calleigh waited for her door to slam shut before slowly rolling out of bed. Sure enough , she grinned to find a fluffy omlette situated in the oven, closely watched by her tuxedo cat, Pete.

"Looks good doesn't it, Pete?" She took it out and threw Pete a chuck of ham, pulling out a fork and curling into a pretzel on her lawn chair out on the balcony.

Chewing on a too-dry piece of egg and cheese, she suddenly h eard the phone ring. Groaning, she tried to ignore it, but the ringing thrummed through her head like an alarm. Abruptly, the machine picked up, and Calleigh heard the sound of a person breathing on the other line. Before she could reach for the phone, it clicked off.

"Who was that, Pete?" she murmured, warily. She finished her omelet in uneasy silence, and returned indoors. Baffled, Calleigh froze as the phone rang again. She fearlessly ripped it from the wall and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" To her relief, a familiar voice welcomed her concernedly.

"Calleigh? Are you all right?" Alexx's worried face appeared affectionately in Calleigh's mind.

"Morning Alexx," she exhaled, "I'm fine. I've just got to take care of a thing or two..." Calleigh hoped that Alexx wouldn't interpret the worry in her voice.

"Do you want to talk about it, honey?" Calleigh caught her breath, actually wanting to answer her.

"No, Alexx, but thank you. I'll be back at the office at around four, okay?"

"Sure, baby," kind woman said warmly, but still a little concerned.

"You scared me to death, though, Alexx," Calleigh laughed jokingly. Alexx paused.

"What?"

"Earlier...calling me with tha tmessage," she continued. "Scared the bejeezus out of me."

"I didn't call you, honey."

Calleigh blinked.

"You didn't."

"No," Calleigh could hear Alexx frowning. "Calleigh, what happened? If you got a prank call, you know there's a watch for that sexual harasser..."

"It's fine, Alexx," Calleigh interrupted, suddenly very cold. "I'll see you at four." Then, she hung up.

Calleighj stared at the answering machine with a frown on her lips. She silently walked over to it and reach3ed out her finger to erase it, but at the last moment, switched to the "play" button. She fastforwarded it to the very end, and scrawled down the number the machine had traced the origin of the call to.

"...the last number that left a message on your phone was—867.437.2291—..."

The number sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember where she'd heard it before. Her mind strained in focus, and suddenly she snapped to attention. _Oh. My. God._

She ran to her purse and drew out the piece of paper with her boss' address and phone number. Playing the message's number again, she watched, her heart flopping like a wet fish on land, as the number corresponded perfectly with the one on her paper.


	4. The Words Died on Her lips

Calleigh drove like a maniac to work in her Mini-Cooper, almost crashing into Tim's Volvo while pulling into the parking lot. She kicked the door open and ran hard up the stairs, plowing over several interns on her way to her office. Calleigh didn't even wave 'hello' to Alexx.

Once in her office, she stared at her phone, clutching the number in her fist. She picked up her fingers to dial, placing them on the appropriate squares when her door swung open.

"Making a call?" Alexx smiled at her warmly from the doorway. Calleigh quickly dropped her hand and hitched up a grin, shaking her unkempt head.

"No, it's okay," she lied. Alexx watched her for a moment before locking the door behind her and sitting down. "What's up?" Alexx said nothing, just stared into Calleigh's blue eyes with evident concern.

"Calleigh, please tell me if there's something wrong, will you?" the woman pleaded.

"I'm fine," Calleigh answered a little too sharply. "There's just a lot on my mind, that's all." Alexx stared at her friend for a moment before standing up to leave. "Um, Alexx? Can I ask you a question?" She nodded. "If you thought there was a chance someone you knew was in trouble, how far would you go to help them?"

Alexx tried to penetrate through Calleigh's steely gaze, but she couldn't. Instead, she sighed and weakly smiled again.

"I'd do anything, honey, you know that," she told Calleigh. "But don't get yourself hurt while doing it." Then, turning, Alexx left Calleigh alone to her thoughts in the small office.

It took about fifteen minutes for Calleigh to finally decide what she already knew she had to do. A quick prayer and not on her desk later and she headed for the door, but paused. Calleigh glanced at the window and suddenly opened it, climbing onto the fire escape. Her heart wasn't pumping fast enough and it left her dizzy and full of adrenaline. By the time she lowered herself onto the ground, she was covered in a sheen of sweat, but she ran to her car nonetheless.

"Duquesne, what the hell are you doing," she muttered to herself, a quick smile flashing across her face. Pulling out of the CSI parking lot, she flipped on her radio with a vengeance. The music roared in her ears, and swearing, she lowered the volume before all the glass in her car shattered. Not really knowing where she was going, she headed towards the coast, watching as the sun glinted on the water like drops of gold. She contemplated just turning around and driving home, but she knew that honestly wasn't an option. Slowly, Calleigh drew out the Atlas from under her seat and turned past Wisconsin, past Wyoming, and, heart beating like a drummer on steroids, turned to West Virginia.

She studied the map, eyes determined and wide. However, she paused suddenly, and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. With her eyes still shut, she rammed the stick into gear and passed the gas pedal to the floor. Calleigh sped towards the highway, eyes flying open, exhilarated and scared out of her mind at the same time.

An hour later, she remembered she'd packed no clothes and left her purse in her office. Thank God she had sixty bucks in her visor for emergency gas stops. She tor the top off an Aquafina water bottle and chugged half of it thirstily. Suddenly, her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, and she jumped. Flipping up the cover, she groaned.

"Calleigh? God damn, where the hell are you?" Tim's voice was aflame with concern and anger.

"Hey, Tim."

"'Hey, Tim?'" He repeated dumbly, "'Hey, Tim?' What are you _doing_, Calleigh? Come back to the office right now, please!"

"I—can't," she stuttered, a bit guiltily. "I'm in Georgia." Calleigh waited for him to explode, but he didn't. Instead, she heard a deep shuddering breath on the other end of the line. "Tim?"

"Calleigh, why don't you ever tell me what's inside that head of yours," he sighed, noticeably hurt.

"What are you talking about?" Calleigh whispered.

"Nothing. Forget it. Just—don't you forget to come home, alright?"

"Tim, what are you trying to say?" She heard the phone disconnect and was greeted by an unearthly dial tone. Poor Tim. She didn't even think about her own fiancé before leaving the state. She unconsciously sped up.

By the time she reached North Carolina's borders, it was almost one in the morning. Her body was tired, but her mind was rapt with alertness. She had to shift in reverse on the isolated highway to double check the sign by the road she just passed really read "North Carolina Welcomes You" or if she was delirious. It was around this time that her cell phone went off between her legs. She almost swerved off the road.

"Hello?" She coughed, once her heart resumed beating at its proper rate.

"Miss Duquesne?"

"Yes?"

"This is Officer George Willis from the Miami Dade Police Department. Are you all right?"

"Excuse me?"

"We've received a phone call concerning your disappearance and we are checking up to see if you are all clear."

Calleigh blinked. No one besides Tim and her colleagues had her new cell phone number. Who else could have—

"Miss Duquesne?"

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you. Just taking a quick trip to West Virginia."

"Why?"

"'_Why_?'"

"Just doing my job, ma'am."

"Of course," Calleigh muttered, "seeing some—relatives." The officer paused then cleared his throat.

"Ah, yes, I understand," he said apologetically. "Excuse the interruption." Calleigh frowned and hung up the phone. She was allowed to leave the state if she wanted, wasn't she? She was 25 years old, for Christ's sake.

After another hour, Calleigh pulled inot a motel and bought a cheap room for the night. She planned to leave first thing in the morning around five.

The bright sun on her face woke her abruptly at ten-thirty.

Apologizing for bull-dozing over a woman climbing up the motel staircase, she threw her room key to the manager while pulling a sweater over her disgraceful hair, paused, ran back to the manager and retrieved the car keys she had thrown him, replaced them with the room keys, and, finally, with a steaming cup of coffee and glazed donut in her trembling hand, she sped out of the motel garage and back onto the highway.

When two-thirty rolled around, Calleigh was about fifteen miles from the border of Virginia. The air was warm, but cooler and less muggy than Miami's atmosphere. Calleigh enjoyed Virginia. She'd been here once before on a vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and had thoroughly had a good time. Plus, she was less than 100 miles away from _West_ Virginia. She guessed another four or five hours, at least.

In shock, she breeched West Virginia's borders in a record two and a half hours later, observing the mineral rich state's rocky hills with a blank expression. Nervously though, she pulled out the map where a red circle marked her destination—only twenty-three miles away in Berkley. Ten minutes later and a threatening experience with the State Police for speeding, and she was there.

Calleigh was scared to the cores of her bones as she pulled onto the dusty, poorly paved street that went through the town. People glanced up lazily at her as she drove by in her extremely dirty Mini-Cooper, but paid little else mind to her. A little girl with blondish-red hair suddenly ran out into the street causing Calleigh to break her car so hard that the engine squeaked in pain. Shaking, Calleigh stepped out of the vehicle.

"Hey there, sweetie," Calleigh whispered gently, squatting down and taking the girl by her shoulders. "Are you okay?" To her relief, the child managed to nod mutely. Calleigh wiped the dust from her cheek and sighed, still shaken up to no end.

"Can you show me where to find a hotel or—" Calleigh watched the girl run off down the street, and, jumping back into the Mini, she followed at a safe distance behind her until the girl halted in front of a shabby, two story building with a forbidding sign reading, "INN."

"Lovely," she whispered. Looking up to thank the little girl, she discovered she was gone. Sighing, she pulled into the parking lot and paid for a cheap room. Collapsing on the way-too-springy bed, she figured she'd wait until tomorrow to search for...him. It would be too much to immediately run house-to-house with naught but an address as direction of any kind. Common sense clearly commanded her to stay right where she was, to get a good nap—

A half-hour later she was driving away from the inn and squinting at numbers on doors for corresponding digits with her address.

Her desperation mounted as each building's number was either too high or too low to fit the numbers. Finally, she almost cried out when she struck a dead end by a large, old house a huge amount of land dotted with ancient trees and horses, some cows, and a couple of sheep...or were they goats. Calleigh had collided headlong into the dead end that she had prayed and prayed wouldn't greet her, yet there she was. Lost and alone.

She looked up blankly into the wide property, and suddenly frowned. The young girl with the golden-red hair sat on a fence post. Calleigh shrugged. It wasn't _so_ much of a coincidence. The town was a fourth of Miami's size, anyway. The girl caught her eye, and Calleigh tried not to blink, but her eyes shut nevertheless.

About to reverse to get back to the hotel, she turned in her seat when—

"Madison!" Calleigh froze, her body tensing up like a stuff in rigormortis. "Madison, where are you?" The girl turned, and leapt off the post. "Come, dinner's ready."

Calleigh forced herself to look around, hoping, fearing, praying that it was---

The man rounded the corner and opened his arms to welcome the child into his arms. Calleigh's mind was spinning. Had it not been his voice, she would have driven away. His skin was darker, his hair lighter. His clothes, unlike the ones he had unintentionally turned into his customary uniform at CSI. He kissed the girl's red head and put an arm around her shoulders with a melancholy expression on his face.

Calleigh panicked, trying to decide whether to hide or to scream. Her mouth was filling with a voice that she couldn't claim as her own. Her heart was bursting inside of her, and she struggled to kick open the car door.

His face turned as she jumped out of it, her blonde hair as crazy at it had been days before. Finally, his eyes landed on her face, and they stared, unseeing, as she ran to the fence before pausing. They showed no recognition. Calleigh could feel her ripping from her chest as they locked eyes. Suddenly, it all rushed into motion.

Horatio's eyes filled with shock and he stood, dumbstruck as she climbed over the fence and ran towards him. Her eyes were flooding with tears as she came nearer and nearer until she stood less than three strides away from him. He stared into her eyes, his own lipid and his chest rising with in a ragged, uneven rhythm. He opened his mouth several times to try and speak, but no words were needed. She crumbled into his arms, and she felt his breath in her hair. She held him so tightly that she feared she'd lose grip and he'd fall away and lose him again. The things going through her mind were like lighting striking her soul. He was so much more than her boss, he'd always been. He was her mentor, her teacher, her trust...her friend. Her body shuddered as they broke away and Horatio held her shoulders in his roughened hands.

"Where...why...how did you...?" Calleigh tried to ask, but the words died on her lips. She didn't want to know, not now. Her body, mind, soul, and heart were in mental overload. As she leaned in to him again, exhausted, she saw the little girl, Madison, standing behind her with a small, almost imperceptible, smile on her plump, still dirty cheeks.


End file.
